Flamatt, Switzerland – July 27, 2017 – Comet has been recognized with a 2017 Supplier of the Year Award in Innovation and Collaboration by Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT), the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world. The awards were presented at Applied’s annual Executive Supplier Forum, an event highlighting the company’s commitment to build close relationships with suppliers, communicate Applied’s strategic direction and priorities, and foster supplier engagement.

“We would like to thank Applied for the trust they have placed in us and the constructive working relationship we've established in recent years. The constant development of innovation and the building up of close working relationships with our customers are key principles of the philosophy in place within our company. We are therefore proud and delighted to have received the award for innovation and collaboration,” said Michael Kammerer, President PCT at Comet Group.

“We are constantly investing in both of these areas, as we see them as important drivers of growth.” The semiconductor market is currently experiencing very strong growth, for which Comet aims to provide considerable support to ensure that it continues into the future. “This is the reason why we are concentrating our investment activity on expanding our capacity and our expertise. We are currently focusing on developing a completely new, modular and high-performance RF power system platform, for which we are significantly enhancing our RF and software expertise at everywhere within our company,” continued Michael Kammerer. Equally important to Comet are investments in customer support and in platforms which facilitate collaboration and speed up the development of innovative solutions substantially.

Thanks to Lab One – the company's newly opened technology and application center in Silicon Valley – the Comet Group as a whole will make further progress in the areas of innovation and collaboration: With its motto “Innovate. Implement. Accelerate,” Comet is offering its customers an environment in which they can quickly access all three of the technologies offered by the group – RF, X-ray and ebeam – from a single source and receive bundled expert advice. The main USP of Lab One, however, is the space it offers for promoting inspiration, for carrying out tests and for developing new applications. For anyone interested in finding out more, we will be holding an open day on October 4, 2017, where you can come learn more about the center for yourself.

“Applied’s increased investments in R&D over the past few years have produced disruptive new products, including the fastest-ramping product in our company’s history,” said Gino Addiego, senior vice president of Engineering, Operations and Quality at Applied Materials. “Having close technical and operational relationships with our suppliers is critical to our ability to innovate and rapidly introduce successful new products. I would like to thank all the 2017 Supplier of the Year Award winners for their contributions to Applied’s success during this year of sustained growth.”

The award represents Comet’s outstanding performance in Innovation and Collaboration. By consistently meeting or exceeding performance standards over the past year, Comet has played a key role in helping Applied achieve technical and operational excellence and deliver industry-leading products to customers.

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